Etiquette for Artists and Their Nude Models

I've been asked recently for some guidelines for appropriate artist's behavior when working with models in a life drawing group. This is what I came up with.

Rules for Artists:

1. DO NOT touch the model, NO exceptions. No touching is a cardinal rule, not to be broken, ever. This rule also applies to artists when working with models privately for life drawing or photography sessions.

2. DO NOT photograph the model and do not ask the model if you can take a picture. A model may feel obligated to say yes because you are paying them, so it's best to not even ask. Make a separate appointment for photography because when an artist's model does photographic modeling, they make at least two to four times as much per hour as live models. Photographers/artists should have a model release specifically stating the intended use of the photographs.

3. DO NOT chat with the model when he/she is modeling. Conversation is distracting for the model and your fellow artists.

4. DO NOT make comments about the model's body.

5. DO NOT invade the model's personal space.  This includes sitting on the model stand any time the model is on it, five feet away is a good starting point.

6. DO NOT ask the model personal questions such as their last name, where they live, etc.

7. DO NOT ask the model out on a date.

8. DO NOT remove your clothes when the model does. I bring this up because it happened in one of my drawing classes when I was a college student.

9. DO NOT allow non-artists to wander through the room. 

Terry Strickland Oil Painting Class

I have one spot open in my ongoing painting class at Forstall Art Center, here in Birmingham, AL.

Here is some basic info about the class:

WHEN: Tuesday mornings, 9:30-12:30. Forstall Art Center

FORMAT: My knowledge is your knowledge! I use a one room school house type class, where there are students of varying skill levels. This approach seems to work well, as everyone gains when hearing critiques from each others work. Those back to basics concepts that we continually revisit help strengthen everyone's work.

There will be demos and exercises working from still life or photographs, occasionally we have a model. These will focus on using oil paint to create the illusion of reality and in general every aspect of the drawing and painting process. It's amazing the things you can create when your "artistic skills" tool box is full of many tools! The class is small enough that you'll get feedback one on one while everyone is working on their own paintings. The good thing is it's always fun!

PRICE: $200 for six classes. (plus one make-up if you have an absence during the six weeks)

~The class will be paid for in 6 week segments, with one make-up class allowed. 

~Class size will be limited to 8

~The class will run continuously.

I also teach an afternoon class that is currently full with a short waiting list. Maybe my B'ham art types are sleepy heads.

Check out my posts about some of the kind of projects we do in the class. 

You may email me at strcklnd@bellsouth.net if you are interested or have any questions. Or call me at 205 529-9859

Alla Prima Still Life Demo

Last Saturday, Oct 19, 2013, I did a painting demo at Forstall Art Center in Birmingham, AL. I teach oil painting there on Tuesday mornings. Here a quick video of the demo!

"Southern Still Life", 20x16, oil on linen.

"Ay, There's the Rub"

I could not resist this title for my post about this week's oil painting class, and my quick demo using a rub-out underpainting technique.

The phrase is Shakespeare’s. It comes from Hamlet’s famous “To be or not to be” soliloquy: 

To die — to sleep.
To sleep — perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub!
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause. 

By rub, Hamlet means a difficulty, obstacle or objection.

How fitting a reference for this task we have chosen for ourselves. mastering the craft of painting, living the life of an artist. It can be the stuff of dreams or nightmares, it's the dream times that keeps us coming back for more.

When things are going well in the studio we seem to float on the current, lose track of time in a deep focus, it does seem rather dream like; yet when we are struggling against the current, reaching for the next level for our work, we are still learning, we will come out the other side (unlike Hamlet) and our work will be stronger for it.

I consistently remind my students struggle is learning, each new failure is a stepping stone to the next, better, painting.

All that said my students did great with this exercise and seemed to enjoy it! Using only Burnt Umber they covered the canvas with paint thinned only a bit with a mixture of linseed oil and OMS.

Then rubbed out the lighter values and highlights, using value to create volume.

This is the third in a value series I've had my students working on. You can see those and other teaching posts here.

Shakespeare continues to inspire, here is a link to a few of my paintings exploring some of his themes in a contemporary way.

Value of Practice

Last week I did a second value poster study with my class. We are attempting to solidify this concept before moving on to color temperature. Here is the very quick demo I did for them.

They all worked hard the first week to understand what they were seeing and get it down, judging one value against another as they painted from the background to the foreground and from darkest to lightest.

We used raw umber and ivory black to mix our darkest value, then mixed a middle value.

Using mixtures of the middle value with our homemade black we mixed two additional dark values.

Then we used the middle value with titanium white to mix two additional light values.

This resulted in a string of color puddles that gave us 7 values to work with. They should eventually work toward seeing 9 or 10 values.

This gave them experience simplifying basic forms into values without the complication of color or temperature.

It also gave them experience mixing paint into color strings, a great way to work and the method I teach.

Next week we will continue with this two steps forward and one step back journey learning these color theory concepts.

I will have them do a rub out painting using burnt umber which is a standard under painting practice and one my students love once they give it a try.

Patience my lovely students, remember practice while reaching is learning! Linger in the uncomfortable zone.

This is one of my 9x12 figure sketches using this technique. I painted it in Charleston last fall while on the Women Painting Women on Expedition painting retreat. 

Here is a link to a few of my other posts about teaching including one about the rub out technique. I'll post the demo after class next week.

Two Steps Forward - One Step Back

This week I had my oil painting class do quick poster studies of a silver mug and an egg. This is my demo piece. I call this The Value of Back to Basics. (I apologize for that but I love puns.)

I've had several students  quiz me about the difference between the color properties of value and temperature. Since experience is the best way to learn I designed this simple exercise to take them back to a basics lesson. Back to basics is a great way to freshen up and invigorate even the most experienced painter.

We used raw umber and ivory black to mix our darkest value, then mixed a middle value.

Using mixtures of the middle value with our homemade black we mixed two additional dark values.

Then we used the middle value with titanium white to mix two additional light values.

This resulted in a string of color puddles that gave us 7 values to work with. They should eventually work toward seeing 9 values.

This gave them experience breaking down simple forms into values without the complication of color or temperature.

It also gave them experience mixing paint into color strings, a great way to work and the method I teach.

We will be continuing with this for a few weeks in my class working on these color theory concepts, taking small steps backward and forward.  Learning to paint is that kind of meandering journey!

Here is a link to a few of my other post about teaching.

Myth Busting One Art Rule at a Time

Yesterday while painting rocks I had an ah ha moment....

"The Certainty of Youth and the Complexity of Wisdom" detail
(diptych in progress)

As I share my knowledge of painting with my students I also delight in debunking ART RULES as they understand them.

The ah ha moment today came when I realized WHY this is crucial to growth as an artist, particularly to a realist artist...drum roll please...

If you have a preconceived idea of what something SHOULD be you can't get to the thing as it REALLY is.

While all the technical stuff I share is important what I really want my students to do is observe nature, really observe nature.

The conversation usually starts when I say something like "Look how warm the shadows are here" then one of my very accomplished students says something like "But I thought shadows are cool and highlights are warm" then I say "That's what I used to think too." And then we are off!

I've come to think of these statements as Art Rules that Hinder. While painting in the solitude of my studio I find myself problem solving ways to help students rethink these rules, ways to shake them up just a bit.

So for my lovely students (you know who you are), I'll be debunking the rules one by one and having fun rocking your world!

Myth Busting Art Rules that Hinder

1. "Shadows are cool and highlights are warm"

Wrong, it's all relative. 

If you are trying to fit what you are observing into a painting formula you cannot see the magical natural phenomenon that is right in front of you.

Example: The hot southwest sun shining on a mesa is warm and the shadows cast by the mesa are cool, but a cool north light will make the highlights seem cool, in comparison to the shadows which will seem warm. 

Think of your paintings as movies, you be the director and set up any number of color temperature scenarios and variations.

Here is the illustration I use in class. This is a small still life I set up in a box, it's a wooden finial I painted flat white and mounted to a canvas board. The light is the same, all that changes is a piece of colored paper on the right hand side reflecting into the shadows.

With  black paper to the right of the box the shadow is dense and fairly neutral.

There is a red-orange piece of paper to the right of the box, notice all the gorgeous hot colors bouncing around. The highlight in comparison to the shadow is cool even though the light source hasn't changed.

Same light, but now with a cool blue paper reflecting into the shadows, the highlight is positively warm. 

Simply shine a light on a white object, put a piece of red paper on the opposite side of the object and really observe the light and shadow. In relationship to the red bouncing around in the shadows the highlights will seem warm. Yes this is reflected light, but it's also the color temperature in the shadow. My point is that it is all relative to the situation you set up or observe in nature.

If anyone knows any Art Rules that Hinder just send them to me. This is going to be fun!

Underpainting Demo

Today, at the request of Forstall Art Center management, I did a free demonstration of under painting techniques using Gamblin's new FastMatte fast drying oil paint. It is an alkyd resin and linseed oil binder. The paint is designed to be used instead of acrylic for toning canvases or doing under paintings.

I set up a still-life of a clementine orange and red grapes. I have a set up made of foam core sides, black fabric covers the back and sides and a sheet of black foam core on the top. There is a hole in the top to clamp a light from above, this blocks the overhead studio lights.  This way the drama of a single light is not diluted by the studio lights.

 

I toned an Ampersand Gessobord with Fastmatte thinned with a mixture of Galykd and odorless mineral spirits. This mixture was drying very quickly even as I worked. It will be completely dry in 18-22 hours. I did a rub out or reductive value study, simply rubbing out the paint with a t-shirt scrap.

On a second panel I did a pencil drawing, then restated it in a permanent sepia Faber-Castell artist pen. Then I did a rub out painting on top of the sepia drawing, this time trying the paint with a mix of linseed oil and odorless mineral spirits. This mixture stayed wet longer and gave me more time to work the study. Using a sepia pen to secure your drawing works well with more complicated paintings.

Either one of these methods will dry quickly and could be continued in a day or two with full color. Here are a couple of other studies I've done at the local life drawing group.

 5-minute rub out gesture sketch

1 hour rub out oil sketch

 And here's one I did on the Women Painting Women on Expedition last November.

I'm enjoying this technique very much and find that if the study is pushed far enough it is beautiful even with out adding any color. It takes the place of doing value studies when used as an under painting and helps me resolves problems relating to placement on the canvas or value. 

Find out more about FastMatte at the Gamblin site.

I'll be Teaching Two Fall Workshops at Forstall Art Center and Gadsden Museum of Art

The first is a workshop consisting of two stand-alone workshops that complement each other at Forstall Art Center in Birmingham, AL, Sept 24 & 25, 2010, 10am-5pm, Class size is limited. Each day is a complete workshop and may be taken singly or with the other.

“It’s All Relative!” Friday, Sept 24, 2010
Learn to see and paint correct value AND temperature, the often overlooked 4th property of color.  You’ll create a limited palette painting incorporating the principles as you go. Once you learn to see this way your painting will be changed forever-it really is all relative!

“So Many Colors!” Saturday, Sept 25, 2010
A methodical and rational way to organize a palette and mix true colors that cuts though the confusion! Why reinvent the wheel when you can explore traditional painting methods from beginning to end? Terry will share her painting method condensed from 30 years experience for you.
 
Other points covered in both workshops:
~Using edge control
~transparency vs opacity
~learning to see reflected light 

Here are details of a little study of a still life I set up for my students, trying to further understand and teach color temperature using warm and cool grays. Really interesting things happen when reflected light changes colors and temperature. This was done with a limited palette, the same one we'll be using in the "It's All Relative!" workshop. This is more finished than what we'll be able to get done in a one day workshop but the idea is there.

To sign-up contact Forstall Art Center.

I'll be offering  “It’s All Relative!” Sat, Nov 13, 2010, 10AM-5PM, and
“So Many Colors!” Sunday, Nov 14, 2010, 1-6PM  at the Gadsden Museum of Art in Gadsden, AL. The classes are designed to be stand-alone and yet compliment each other so that students may take either one or both.

It will be offered in conjunction with my show which is part of the Alabama's Finest Artists Series. To sign up for that workshop contact Gadsden Museum.

Contemporary Realism Workshop

I'll be teaching a six week oil painting workshop at

Forstall Art Center in Birmingham, AL.

"Evolution of a Teleportation Device" 10"x20"

This is a “back to basics” class for all skill levels, appropriate for any student searching for the right tools to paint in a realistic manner.

The class will emphasize core skills necessary to create convincing illusions in oil paint. Working from still life we’ll explore color theory and paint mixing. Students and I will explore the tried and true skills necessary to render 3-dimensional forms and capture light with oil paint. Class size is limited to 10 students.

The center is located at 402 Palisades Blvd, Birmingham, AL beginning May 4, 2010, Tuesdays 9:30-12:30, $195. To inquire or to register email me at terrystr@terrystricklandart.com